


We Will Sing Forevermore

by NoSleepUntilVacation



Series: Papyton Week 2020 [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Ghost Mettaton (Undertale), M/M, Music, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Pre-Canon, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:28:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27822289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoSleepUntilVacation/pseuds/NoSleepUntilVacation
Summary: In which one little song sets off a small chain reaction that brings two people closer together.Written for day six of Papyton Week, using the prompt "song".
Relationships: Mettaton/Papyrus (Undertale)
Series: Papyton Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655671
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	We Will Sing Forevermore

**Author's Note:**

> By the time I finish with Papyton Week, it's probably gonna end up feeling more like Papyton Year... oh well, the more Papyton fluff, the better!

Once, there was a little pink ghost.

He lived a quiet, unassuming life in a pink house by a snail farm. This farm, located in an underground region known as Waterfall - itself part of a larger underground region known as... well, the Underground - had undeniably seen better days. Everything was well-maintained, yes, but customers were few and far between. Oh, sure, people would drop by from time to time, especially whenever a Thundersnail racing event would take place, but their best customer had suddenly stopped showing up a long time ago. As if that weren't enough, they also had to cut back on the Thundersnail events because whenever people inevitably cheered too much for a given snail, it would burst into flames; upkeep on the farm was hard enough without having to deal with medical expenses for mollusks.

And thus, the little pink ghost felt trapped. Born into circumstances he didn't ask for, with no clear way out and the days just blending together... he had the company of family and at least a couple of friends, but there had to be something more to life than this. Just sitting around and waiting for something to happen...

...right?

Not too far from the snail farms, there was a garbage dump. Trash from the surface would float down, waiting for curious monsters to pick it up; through this, monsters would easily learn new things about humans, as well as the surface world that eluded them for millennia. While quite a bit of trash was too waterlogged to be usable, some of it managed to survive its wet voyage from time to time. Thanks to this, monsters were easily able to acquire human technology and create some of their own.

Among other things, this was how, one day, the pink ghost ended up with this one particular CD.

To most humans, it wouldn't have been anything special; it was just a simple music album featuring different songs performed by an artist. But to the pink ghost, it was like he struck gold. A whole album full of human songs he'd most likely never heard before! And thanks to what the monsters knew about modern human technology, he had the means to play it!

And thus, when he returned to his home at the snail farm, the first thing he did was take out the CD from its case, load the album into his little music player, and press play.

Now, the ghost's favorite types of human songs were the ones with danceable rhythms and/or lots of synthesizers; with that in mind, the music on this album initially would have seemed a little too acoustic and sedate for his tastes. He could have danced to the music if he wanted to, but with this style, it would most likely require a partner.

He didn't mind, though; CDs from the surface frequently offered little glimpses into the past or current lives of humans. While many monsters still viewed humans as a threat after the royal tragedy some time ago, others viewed the collection of souls as more of a "we're doing what we have to do" sort of thing, and some monsters (especially the youngest ones) didn't even know what humans looked like. And this ghost in particular dreamed of the surface world on a regular basis. What if, someday, he could go there and perform for humans? So many people watching him and cheering for him, wanting to hear what he has to say...

The odds of that happening currently felt next to nil, especially with his lack of a corporeal body and the lack of confidence resulting from same, but hey, a ghost could dream. And dream was exactly what he did as he lay on the floor and listened to the various songs.

One song in particular stuck with him so much that, as soon as it ended and the next song started, he found himself switching the CD back to the previous song. Something about this song - a little tune that was apparently called "Fly Me to the Moon" - just seemed to click with him.

He lay back down, closed his eyes, and slipped into more vivid daydreams than ever. In his mind's eye, he saw himself playing among the stars, in multiple senses of the word. On one hand, he could imagine himself, in a beautiful humanoid body, mingling amongst several other celebrities, each of them complimenting him on his most recent successes and telling him everything they liked about him. On the other hand, he could also imagine himself under a starry night sky, laughing and dancing in a grassy field, grateful for his body, his freedom, and his fame. The wind in his hair, a sparkle in his eyes, the idea of having real arms and legs and being able to dance and pose and feel things...

Such thoughts often felt overwhelming. But to many ghosts, including this one, the thought of remaining incorporeal for the rest of their existence...

Well, if this ghost ruminated on them for too long, he'd just make himself sad. So he just focused on the song instead. He wasn't sure how many times he listened to that song on that day; he lost count after seven or eight.

This song was not the thing to plant the seed of a human fan club in his mind, nor was it the catalyst to him finally starting one.

But even as all that happened, and even as he nearly lost sight of his heart while trying to achieve his dreams, and even as he realized the error of his ways and vowed to be a better person for those he almost abandoned (or did), this song remained one of many to hold a special place in his heart.

And when he and his family and friends left Mt. Ebott for the first time and caught their first real view of the night sky, he already found himself thinking of a way to commemorate this event.

* * *

Once, there was a tall skeleton.

He loved to call himself great, to the point of frequently injecting the phrase "I, the Great Papyrus" into conversations. At other times, he would brag about his puzzle-related intellect, his huge biceps, and so many other things about himself.

At first glance, someone would be likely to assume he was just an egotistical jerk who didn't care about anyone. However, this couldn't have been further from the truth; he did like to put himself over, yes, but never at the expense of others. His sarcasm was usually saved for people he knew really well, since the thought of making anyone cry - even by accident - would in turn make him want to cry.

Even him being egotistical was questionable at best; some of his closest companions, such as his older brother Sans and best friend Undyne, often noticed a sad look in his eyes when he talked about wanting to have a lot of friends. Of course, both would be there for him to the best of their abilities, and he often brightened up around both of them, but just the company of those two didn't feel enough. It felt like trying to cross a canyon with nothing but a slightly-rickety rope bridge.

At first, his idea of getting everyone to love him was through training to capture a human for the Royal Guard. However, the one time the opportunity presented itself, the human in question won over Papyrus so much that he in turn felt like an older brother of sorts; although he knew in his soul that Undyne was likely to want the human dead, a tiny part of him still held out hope that they could all look beyond their differences.

And, miraculously, after what was apparently a grueling encounter on both sides, Undyne and the human did become friends.

(Of course, Papyrus had helped a little by playing to Undyne's dislike of backing down from challenges.)

But as the human continued with their adventure, Papyrus wondered: what was he to do now? If even Undyne trusted this human, bringing them to the king gave him even more uncertain feelings than it already did. Maybe he could look out for another human to fall underground? Maybe he could design some bigger and better puzzles than ever before? Or maybe he could go with his other plan and become a great pasta chef?

...

He didn't have a lot of pondering time that day, for two things ended up happening.

The first was that the human kept appearing on TV, co-starring in several skits alongside Mettaton, the monsters' biggest celebrity (and Papyrus' favorite). Seeing Mettaton and the human move through all those performances so seamlessly, culminating in a blockbuster performance where Mettaton introduced his new look... as Papyrus sat there, feeling more and more inspired by the imagery on screen, he wondered if someday, he also could create something that would make someone feel amazed.

The second was that the magical barrier - the one keeping monsters underground for as long as all but the oldest could remember - had finally been shattered somehow. An entirely new world had opened up for everyone just like that; so many possibilities, and most monsters wouldn't know where to start.

Initially, Papyrus had been one of them, but he'd picked up a couple of new hobbies in his first few months on the surface. One of them was fixing cars, which didn't take long to become a more permanent career for him.

But also, that Christmas, Sans had given him an acoustic guitar for a present. Papyrus, who had wanted to hone his musical sense for a while, felt a fire in his heart. He was going to learn the ins and outs of this instrument no matter how hard it was - not only was it a challenge, this guitar was a gift from his brother, and Papyrus always honored the gifts he received.

He practiced every day, learning notes and chords and tuning, slowly working his way up to actual songs. It would be a while before he could truly call himself a virtuoso, but he far preferred trying and failing over not even trying.

And then came the day of the monsters' first anniversary on the surface.

They had all chosen to celebrate with an outdoor party in the fields surrounding Mt. Ebott. Various monsters provided their talents, with the culinary-minded monsters providing food carts, Gerson describing some of his findings to his listeners, the Snowdrake family providing stand-up comedy (with Sans providing musical cues on drums and trombone - and even jumping in with a few punchlines of his own), and some of the musically-inclined monsters performing for everyone.

And, of course, one of the performers that night was Mettaton.

Papyrus had been hanging out with Frisk, talking about different random things in the midst of eating their respective treats; Papyrus had chosen a cinnamon bunny with star-shaped sprinkles, while Frisk worked little by little at a cloud of cotton candy bigger than their own head.

Frisk looked up towards the mountain, the sky surrounding it steadily darkening. "Wow... it was only a year ago today that we stood on that cliff top and watched the sunset."

"Indeed! Even now, the weather continues to surprise me all the time!" Papyrus looked down slightly, his browbone furrowing. "Admittedly, I kind of miss having snow all the time, and not just at a specific time of year... but at least we can have hot weather without having to deal with laser conveyors!"

"Yeah." Frisk grabbed another bite of cotton candy.

Before long, an announcement sounded over the party's PA system.

"Good evening, everyone! Mettaton's performance will begin in ten minutes!"

"Ooh! I don't want to miss it!" Papyrus nearly broke into a run.

"Me neither!" Frisk followed him.

They made it to the pavilion in a flash, and quickly noticed Undyne and Alphys waving at them from their seats. The two promptly took their seats next to the girls and waited for the show to start.

Finally, right on time, Mettaton took the stage. He spent the next half-hour or so singing a small handful of different songs; some of them were classic tunes from his Underground days, while a couple of them were new original songs, as a sneak preview of his new album coming soon. A couple more, instead of being his own, were instead his renditions of human songs he liked.

At one point in between songs, after the sun had finished setting, Mettaton gestured up towards the sky, where the moon shone brightly, far away from the scant clouds.

"Do you see the moon up there, darlings? It used to be that we could only see it in pictures; now, we can all see it almost every night." As he smiled, an air of sentimentalism took over his voice. "And speaking of the moon... this song has been close to my heart for quite some time now. Some of you may have heard it; it's called 'Fly Me to the Moon'."

Several audience members clapped, some of them cheered, and Frisk and Papyrus saw Undyne and Alphys give each other a knowing nod.

A piano track soon started up, with Mettaton taking the vocals in short order. Despite his wheelhouse being more along the lines of electronic dance music and rock songs, somehow he managed to make this work. Something about his deep voice singing each line of that famous song... the song didn't have as many lyrics as quite a few of the other songs Papyrus liked, but the words that were there still said so much. And Mettaton put so much heart into his performance that it was clear he wasn't lying about loving this song.

Even after Mettaton finished this song and moved onto another, even after he finished his set and bid everyone a good night and happy Freedom Day, even as other events began happening that night, that performance still floated around in the back of Papyrus' head. He still enjoyed the rest of the celebration thoroughly, as expected from someone as enthusiastic as him.

And when it was time to go home, one of the first things Papyrus did was go to a website and look up some guitar chords.

* * *

Once there was a glamorous performing robot.

And he was not having a good day.

Mettaton had just spent some time arguing with the executives from the record company; their ideas for Mettaton's next album had clashed quite severely with what Mettaton had intended for his album. He'd wanted it to tell a loose story, but some of the executives had wanted the most radio-friendly songs at the start, despite this messing with the natural progression of the storyline.

He scoffed to himself. Please! Had these people never heard of character arcs?

Anyway, his frustration led him to spend the time immediately after his arrival home watching some different videos while eating his favorite ice cream. (He knew he probably should have eaten dinner before dessert, but hey, no one was watching!)

Just after clicking on his fourth cat video of the day, something on the webpage's sidebar caught his eye. A new video from Shyren and Lemon Bread, together with their friends Papyrus and Undyne...

...and they were performing "Fly Me to the Moon" together?

At that point, Mettaton looked back and forth between the video he'd clicked and the video in the sidebar. Cute cats or a beloved song...?

He shrugged. This was a short cat video anyway, so he'd watch the cute animals and then listen to the song.

After a couple of minutes of cats playing with new toys, he was ready to see the other video. He clicked on the link, scrolled down a little to see the description, and the first line made his heart skip a beat.

_Dedicated to Alphys and Mettaton - two of our favorite people!_

"Oh, my..." Mettaton whispered. Now he _had_ to see this! Not that he was complaining at all, though.

He scrolled back up, noticing Undyne sitting at a piano and Papyrus holding an acoustic guitar, while Shyren floated in the center with Lemon Bread next to her. Both Undyne and Papyrus waved at the camera before getting into position to play.

Lemon Bread bobbed their head a little bit before counting off the rhythm, and Undyne and Papyrus began to play that familiar melody. The sounds of the piano and guitar harmonized with one another, and by the time the lyrics started, Mettaton already found himself unable to tear his eyes - or his ears - away from the video.

It was quite ironic in a few ways. Despite Shyren being tense in social situations, she could blossom in performances under the right circumstances. Lemon Bread was a combination of three different monsters who were occasionally at odds with one another, and yet they provided counterpoints in harmony with no trouble at all. And despite Undyne being pretty chaotic from time to time in her off-hours, this video proved that she didn't just take things seriously at work. Mettaton didn't know Papyrus that well at this time, but from what he did know, Papyrus was also quite enthusiastic, and sometimes willing to defy logic just for fun. And yet, here he was, being just as serious as Undyne.

When the song finished and the end-card popped up, Mettaton didn't even wait for the video to officially end before scrolling down to the comment box. He didn't have a lot of words at the moment, but the one word he did have summed it up quite nicely:

_Beautiful!!!_

(He did, however, add some heart emojis at the end for good measure.)

It wasn't even five minutes before "CoolSkeleton95" both liked his comment and replied:

_THANK YOU!!!_

By now, the initial heart flutters had worn off and Mettaton was able to find some more words, so he left a reply to the reply:

 _Thank_ you, _darling. I really needed to hear this tonight._

Mettaton sat there and thought for a moment. Papyrus seemed so silly and yet so sweet at the same time... something deep inside wanted to get to know him better. He felt that if he didn't continue talking to this skeleton and at least try to be friends with him, he would regret it for as long as his body and soul continued to function.

And thus, with his mind made up, Mettaton sent a message to someone close.

_Alphys, darling, do you know Papyrus' phone number?_

* * *

The request was a success.

The phone call to Papyrus was a success.

The first hangout was a success.

As was the second, and the third, and the fourth...

...and when the hangouts eventually became dates, they too were successes.

And after a number of years, it all led to something more.

* * *

Once, there was a house on a relatively quiet street. To most people, this house didn't seem like anything special, just a bunch of standard-issue rooms and a nice-sized backyard.

But for the two who had just started living there together, this house probably couldn't be any more special. Of all the houses in the neighborhood, it was this one that had the honor of being their first home as a couple.

They'd spent the past several days getting everything squared away with help from their friends, and their most recent completed project was a nice patio, great for when they wanted to spend time outdoors without going in public. To celebrate getting the patio into good shape, they decided to share dinner outside tonight.

"...so if we ever get on a rollercoaster together, and you hear me singing to myself, that's why," Mettaton said before sipping his drink.

"Wowie!" Papyrus' eyelights sparkled; Mettaton always had some of the coolest stories.

When they finished their meal, Mettaton noticed Papyrus about to get up to gather the dishes, and gently put a hand on his arm.

"Actually, darling, allow me."

"Nyeh? Are you sure?"

"Of course. You've done so much today." Mettaton smiled. "Besides, I have a surprise for you."

"Oh." Papyrus gave that nervous-yet-excited grin that Mettaton loved seeing - for Papyrus tended to love Mettaton's surprises.

Mettaton headed inside and quickly rinsed off the dishes before heading elsewhere in the house. It took almost no time to find what he needed, and after a quick check to make sure it still worked, he securely held on to it as he walked back outside.

Upon seeing Mettaton walk out with a music player and a CD, Papyrus once again said, "Nyeh?"

"I thought some music would be nice after dinner. Especially with how beautiful the night is." And with the full moon illuminating the night sky, Mettaton just couldn't resist thinking of one very special song tonight.

"That sounds like fun!"

Mettaton nodded. _And after many years, the album still works..._ He set it down, and as he reached for the album in question, he asked, "May I have this dance, sugar skull?"

Papyrus stood up and posed. "Absolutely, my special star!"

Mettaton gave him another smile. "Wonderful."

And with that, Mettaton took out the CD from its case, loaded the album into his little music player, and pressed play.

**Author's Note:**

> The song, of course, is "Fly Me to the Moon", originally written by Bart Howard and recorded by lots of people. If you like old music, you've probably heard this song. If you like Evangelion and/or Bayonetta, you almost definitely know this song.
> 
> By the way, can someone help me relearn how to write concise one-shots? It feels like they keep ballooning into long ones.


End file.
